APEX for 55+ people - The concept

The last weeks I’ve been doing some interesting things.

Normally I’m asked to train or coach people when they already have some experience in the IT-field, or know some things about Oracle SQL, PLSQL and APEX. Or I need to train youngsters who already know a lot about the internet and web development.

But what about people who have no real IT experience and are 55+ old? Is it possible to let these people know something about web development and get them up to speed with Oracle Application Express?

The reason I found it an interesting idea, are multiple:

• if you can teach people from that generation a “web 2.0” solution, everybody should be able to learn it

• 55+ people have time, their children are already older, their career is probably in a direction

• motivated 55+ people are searching for a challenge and want something new

• some managers seem to think their 55+ staff can only do “old” stuff, which I don’t agree with

• it’s a challenge to teach normal people (= non-programmers) development skills and you’ll probably need to explain more and better so they can really understand

So I started a pilot project with one 55+ person to see how it goes. We’re a couple of weeks further and I thought it’s time to do a series of blog posts with the outcome.

I thought to seperate the posts in

• Part 1: The landscape (more info about 55+ person and the environment)

• Part 2: The first steps (the start)

• Part 3: The positive points and challenges

• Part 4: The first APEX application

• Part 5: The next steps

• Part 6: Conclusion

If you have some specific questions I should handle, feel free to leave a comment.